Daily 5 Summer Book Study Chapter 2

Thank you for joining our Daily 5 Chapter 2 Book Study hosted by Primary Inspired! I loved reading everyone's take on chapter 1. I am finding it so helpful that many people participating in this book study have been using Daily 5 for years! There are wonderful ideas being shared! This week we are discussing Chapter 2, Our Core Beliefs: The Foundations of the Daily 5.

Trust and Respect

The first belief the sisters describe is Trust and Respect. They emphasize that trust and respect between the teacher and students is important for meaningful learning to take place. They described two former students who had difficulty maintaining independent stamina for long periods of time. They explained they would touch base with these students before each round of Daily 5 to help increase their stamina. They describe these students not as difficult or mischievous, but as needing more instructional support and time to build their stamina. Students see the teacher respect and trust them, and it helps them to respect and trust the teacher in turn.

Community

Building a strong sense of community is so important from day one! I wholeheartedly believe in this and the difference it makes to your classroom climate. The Sisters believe in building a positive classroom culture right away. I love using activities from this book, Tribes by Jeanne Gibbs to help build community. About sixteen years ago I took a week long course based on the principles from this book, and it was a life changer! It's a bit pricey, but worth every penny! Tribes would go along nicely with Daily 5 and the beginning of the year. Getting students to be accountable to each other and honor and respect one another. This also means that students have an understanding that everyone is at different stages of development.

And anything by Maria Dismondy is amazing! I love using her books at the beginning of the year when I am working on creating a positive learning environment. This one is my favorite!

Choice

It's no wonder that when given choice, students are more successful. As adults, we are more invested when we are able to make our own choices. For students who participate in Daily 5, this means having choice in what they read, write, where they sit, and which activity they will do. How empowering for students! It makes so much sense!

Accountability

Both teachers and students need accountability with Daily 5. Teachers have to thoroughly teach the expectations and provide practice to prepare for independence and success with Daily 5. Students are held accountable for choosing their seats and keeping their noise levels down. When students aren't doing what they should be doing during Daily 5, they are called together to review the anchor charts. What is amazing to me is the independence of the students using Daily 5. The teacher isn't constantly looking over her students' shoulders and giving the teacher glare, but teaching one student or a group of students while the others are working on engaging, meaningful work!

Brain Research

I was shocked to read that one study showed a student's age parallels the amount of time they can focus during direct instruction! My kiddos are 7 and 8, and I know my lessons go way over 7 or 8 minutes! The sisters mention the 20/80 concept. Instead of spending 80% of the time instructing and 20% of the time practicing, instruction should be 20% of the time and practice should be 80%.

Transitions as Brain and Body Breaks

This section goes right along with the previous one. The Sisters noticed their students getting restless at times- they would get up to get a drink, use the restroom, or bother their classmates. They decided to shorten their work sessions into 2 to 5 workshops each day. When they notice their students losing stamina, they have them stop, put everything away, and debrief together as a class. They provide a brain break for their students. We all know that glazed-over look in students' eyes when we know we've lost them! When that happens, I love to put on a Brain Break from Go Noodle!

10 Steps to Independence

This belief gets its own chapter! We will be discussing it next week! Be sure to tune in on Tuesday, June 30th for a discussion of chapter 3.

I keep finding myself underlining things in my book that I don't want to forget, so I made a notes page to jot the ideas down for each chapter. If I need more room, I will use sticky notes in each space. I plan to file this in my Daily 5 binder for planning purposes after our book study is over. Feel free to grab a freebie copy of your own by clicking on the picture below!

Now it's your turn! Share your thoughts by commenting below or linking up your blog post! We would love to hear what you think!

P.S. Mary Anne, I asked around about your questions regarding kindergarten and Daily 5! Leave your email below or you can email me at theinspiredowl@gmail.com and I will let you know what I found out! It sounds like the Daily 5 is very doable in Kindergarten!

1 comment

Thank you for hosting this Book Study of Daily 5! I just bought the new edition and am moving to a new school, so I am enthusiastically reading all the different ideas all of you are sharing! I am also a Northern California teacher, but unlike you, I don't bring a bunny to school. :)